It takes a fair amount of pretzel logic to reach the conclusion that Portland's runaway, abusive "urban renewal" agenda could ever be a good deal for the city's taxpayers. But Multnomah County Chair Jeff Cogen, who should be fighting to contract the program, rather than expand it, has offered a classic justification for his complicity with the last "urban renewal" scheme, involving the developer subsidy and political patronage institution known as Portland State. As reported in the student newspaper over there:

In the beginning, Multnomah County representatives were initially skeptical about the plan. County Chairman Jeff Cogan explained that plan alterations since 2010 have allowed the county to support the plan. Under the proposed URA, the county would get a new $19 million facility for the Department of Human Services.

Cogan said that developing PSU improves the community as a whole and actually decreases the need for social services. He cited a College Board study that indicated for every 1 percent increase in the amount of people with bachelor’s degrees, the amount of public assistance paid out by the government decreases. He said he would like for the city to "invest in the front end rather than fix the problems at the tail end."

Now, there's a priceless slice of Portlandia for you, people.